Pill dispenser with resilient, integral, extended wall portion forming a sliding gate

ABSTRACT

A dispenser for tablets or like items in the form of a covered box, a portion of the wall of the box being resilient and deflectable inwardly to open a dispensing passage for one or more items while restraining the remainder of the contents.

United States Patent Makarevitz Nov. 20, 1973 PILL DISPENSER WITH RESILIENT, INTEGRAL, EXTENDED WALL PORTION FORMING A SLIDING GATE [75 Inventor: George Makarevitz, East White Plains, NY.

[7 3 Assignee: Tiros Plastecs Corporation, White Plains, NY.

[22] Filed: June 16, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 153,663

[52] US. Cl. 221/64, 221/289 51 Int. Cl B65d 83/04 [58] Field of Search 221/64, 243, 246, 221/289; 206/42 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,348,449 5/1944 Chandler 206/42 X 3,554,366 1/1971 Corll 206/42 Primary Examiner-Robeit B. Reeves Assistant Examiner-Thomas E Kocovsky AttorneyDavis, Hoxie, Faithful! & Hapgood ABSTRACT A dispenser for tablets or like items in the form of a covered box, a portion of the wall of the box being resilient and deflectable inwardly to open a dispensing passage for one or more items while restraining the remainder of the contents.

7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PILL DISPENSER WITH? RESILl-ENT, INTEGRAL, EXTENDED WALL PORTION FORMING A SLIDING. GATE The present invention relates to a dispenser package for dispensing pills, tablets, capsules, lonzenges, candies, chewing gum pieces, coins, tokens, small parts and similar items which are. desiredtobe dispensed singly or in small groups. The dispenser is a simple plasticmolding in one or two pieces and. has no separate moving parts. It can be manufactured at a cost low enough to compete with nondispensing tablet packages or the like and is particularly suited to pocket orpurse size an.- algesic or alkalizer tablet packaging. The dispenser canbe operated with one hand. with no risk of spillage of the remainder of the contents while providing excellent protection of the contents from; contamination. It requires no assembly during manufacture other than closing the cover.

The dispenser of the present invention comprises a box portion and a cover portion, the box portion including a member in the form. of a strip which, in the closed or nondispensing condition,.is a continuation of. the wall with which it is integral, and. in the dispensing. position is resiliently deflected to open an exit passage for one or a few tablets while restraining theremainder.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is a plan view of the dispenser'of the. present invention shown with a transparent cover for clarity,

FIG. 2 is an elevational view in section taken along line 2-2 of. FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cover,

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the dispenser as molded, and

FIG. 5' is. an elevational' view in section taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 1.

The pill dispenser as illustrated is in the form. ofan' integrally molded box and aseparate'cover 20'. The. cover is shown in transparent: plastic to better reveal the interior details. The box is preferably. molded of a plastic such as polypropylenehaving. great resistance to: flexure fatigue. The cover I0 may be molded of 'any of several plastic materials but ispreferably molded of styrene if transparency is desired.

An upstanding peripheral wall. 1 3 is molded. integral with a generally flat floor 11 to form the box 10tInFIG. l, the wall extends clockwise from the. dispensing opening region 5 around the periphery of thebox to a point near the opposite side of the dispensing zone. The wall there merges with a. strip l5'which is not afi'ixedto the box floor l 1. Strip I5 is an integralextension of wall 13- and is free to be. deflected inwardly of the box. A fixed? interior wall segment 16 extends inwardly of the box from the region where. the strip and wall- 13 merge. A further interior wall or baffle 14: is molded. integral. with the floor and wall generally opposite to the wall segment 16. The strip 15 includes agroove 1.7 to constitute a hinge joint of the variety often calleda living. hinge. The portion 18' of the strip beyond the'hinge. I7 is surmounted by a finger'tab or buttonshown as being in the shape of an arrow 19 and connected to. the strip by a neck 12. The resilientproperties of the plastic of the box are used to cause the: strip 15 to-tendto lie in the position shownin FIG. I- when unstressed: to assume the appearance of acontinuouswall.

The cover 20 is flat with a rabbeted edge 24 which slides in a groove on the interior of box wall 13 in a manner well known for covers. The cover 20 may be permanently atfi'xed to the box 10 by solvent or thermal welding or the like if refilling of the dispenser is to be prevented. Alternatively, the cover and box can be molded integrally witha living hinge. The cover in cludesia slot 23, which forms a track for guiding sliding movement. of the neck 12 which connects the tab 19 and strip. I5.

Until dispensing of tablets A is desired, the strip 15 and finger tab 19 occupy the closed position shown in FIG. 1 thereby closing the dispensing opening 5. The strip 15' assumes a shape which is a continuation of the wall. of the dispenser to present a neat appearance and to exclude foreign matter from the dispensing opening region: 5. The portion 18 of the strip beyond hinge 17, in the relaxed or closed. position, forms a barrier across thetablet passage leadingto the dispensing opening region. The tablets are retained behind barrier 18 a substantial distance: from the dispensing opening. Thus, twobarriers are presented tothe ingress of foreign matter and the tablets are kept remote from the entrance as-a further precaution against contamination.

To operate the dispenser, the tab 19 is moved along the-track defined by cover slot 23 toward the center of the dispenser in the direction suggested by the arrow shape of the tab 19.. Barrier portion 18'and the remainder' of strip- 15 move with'the tab 1 9 tounblock the discharge opening 5.. The strip is deflected to the position shown in FIG. 4 in dotted lines. Any tablets which are resident in the exit passage are thus freed to slide out of the opening. In the dispensing position just described and shown. in dotted: lines in FIG. 4, barrier portion 18 of strip 15- is moved to block the entrance tothe exit passage by obstructing the region between baffle 14 and the wall segment 16' thereby preventing the remaining tablets from escaping. The spacing and position. of baffle l4and'wall segment 16 in relation to the size; of the tablets assures that they move in single file toward the exit. The number of tablets simultaneously dispensed is determined by the room available in the exit: passage behind barrier portion 18. As illustrated,

' twotablets are dispensed simultaneously.

I width: of one item to bar the remaining items from. the

passage.

2. The dispenser of claim 1' wherein at least the said end portion of the wall is a resilient plastic.

3. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein the end portion of the wall includes a further portion hingedly attached to the. remainder of said end wall portion and said further portion-extends across said interior passage when the wall is deflected;

4. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the cover includes aslot for guiding the motion of the end portion.

5. The. dispenser of claim 4 wherein an exterior finger tab is connectedto the end portion.

6. A dispenser for tablets or like items comprising a resilient plastic box and a cover, the box having a flat floor and an integral peripheral wall, a portion of said wall' being free of attachment to said floor to constitute a resilient strip, said strip terminating in a free end portion, the free end portion being integrally hingedly attached to the remainder of the strip, said free end portion including a finger tab and intervening neck portion, the cover including a slot in which said neck portion can slide with the finger tab external of the cover, the strip being deflected inwardly of the box as the finger tab and neck slide inwardly of the cover slot to provide a dispensing opening in the peripheral wall, said box including an integral interior wall extending from the peripheral wall adjacent the attached end of the strip toward the dispensing opening to guide items dispensing opening. 

1. A dispenser for tablets or like items comprising a box having a floor and an integral peripheral wall, an end portion of the wall being free of attachment to the floor and adapted for inward deflection to form a dispensing opening, a passage interior of the box to lead the items toward the opening, the end portion of the wall when deflected extending across said passage at a distance remote from said opening at least equal to the width of one item to bar the remaining items from the passage.
 2. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein at least the said end portion of the wall is a resilient plastic.
 3. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein the end portion of the wall includes a further portion hingedly attached to the remainder of said end wall portion and said further portion extends across said interior passage when the wall is deflected.
 4. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the cover includes a slot for guiding the motion of the end portion.
 5. The dispenser of claim 4 wherein an exterior finger tab is connected to the end portion.
 6. A dispenser for tablets or like items comprising a resilient plastic box and a cover, the box having a flat floor and an integral peripheral wall, a portion of said wall being free of attachment to said floor to constitute a resilient strip, said strip terminating in a free end portion, the free end portion being integrally hingedly attached to the remainder of the strip, said free end portion including a finger tab and intervening neck portion, the cover including a slot in which said neck portion can slide with the finger tab external of the cover, the strip being deflected inwardly of the box as the finger tab and neck slide inwArdly of the cover slot to provide a dispensing opening in the peripheral wall, said box including an integral interior wall extending from the peripheral wall adjacent the attached end of the strip toward the dispensing opening to guide items toward the dispensing opening.
 7. The dispenser of claim 6 wherein the box includes a further integral interior wall portion extending from the peripheral wall generally opposite to the other interior wall to define therebetween a passage, the cover slot extending to guide the free end portion of the strip to a position obstructing the passage between the interior wall portions when the strip is deflected to open the dispensing opening. 